Morgan County is joining the crowd to put a use tax to the vote of the people in April.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to place a 1 1/2 percent use tax on out-of-state purchases and person-to-person sales on the April 2, 2013 ballot to replace a sales tax widely in use across the state that was ruled unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court in January 2012.

County and city sales tax on out-of-state and person-to-person sales of vehicles, boats and other large ticket items was effectively ended in March 2012.

Morgan County joins Camden County and the City of Laurie in seeking to replace this lost revenue with a use tax in the spring election.

With the revenue stream shut off last spring, Morgan County began to see a subsequent decline in revenues over the summer and revenue has continued to flag, according to Western District Commissioner Wayne Kroeschen.

Seeing the actual loss of revenue was the impetus to going ahead and placing a measure on the ballot, Kroeschen said. The commission will let the people decide if they want to continue funding county operations at the same level or not.

It is being estimated that Morgan County stands to lose approximately $86,000 a year if the sales tax is not replaced with the 1 1/2 percent use tax on out-of-state purchases and person-to-person sales.

If the use tax is not approved, Kroeschen said the commission will likely look at cuts across the board to reduce the budget.